Founded by Holly Lisle, 1998
Site Owner, Lazette Gifford -- 2003 to Present

Easy answers to common site questions

Where are the missing threads?
It sometimes appears as though threads have disappeared. They're usually still there. Try these four steps to find them again.

User menu

Edit your preferences

Date Limit

All Available Topics

What are the restrictions on the different types of boards:

Public -- Open to everyone to read and post

You must be a member and logged in to Forward Motion (not chat) to post on anything
but the public boards.

Protected -- Can be read by everyone, but only members can post.

Restricted -- Only members can read and post.

Private -- Only selected members can read and post. (These are mostly the private critique groups.)

Forward Motion Chat Rooms

Please note:

Only one chat room has a 'writing only' rule. If you are in that chat room please limit the off-topic discussions and respect that others come to that room to specifically discuss writing-related subjects. You need not be
writing in Writing Only, but you may only discuss writing.

The Forward Motion Chat Rooms are linked directly to your FM account. You no longer need two accounts and need only be logged into the boards in order to use the chat rooms.

Read and follow the chat rules below

IMPORTANT: Please read note that the chat is part of the
Forward Motion Website and follows the
same rules.
You are responsible for knowing the rules and following them.

Review the User Menu to adjust your information and preferences.

Moderator Warnings : If a
moderator tells you to quit some behavior and you persist in
continuing you will be removed and banned from the chat
rooms.

About Our Chat Room Culture

Our chat rooms are unlike those you'll
find most places on the Internet, and behavior that is
considered acceptable elsewhere will quickly mark you as an
outsider here. The following guidelines will help you fit in
faster.

Do not ask....

Don't ask chatters for either their
location, age or anything else that might be considered
personal. Since the site welcomes younger members, we
are very careful not to make them targets from predators.
Never volunteer this information to strangers on the
Internet.

Chat-speak

Members in our chat rooms hold actual
conversations -- our live rooms are some of the few on the
Internet where people are expected to have something to talk
about and to take the time to say it well. Typos and errors
are as inescapable, but our members don't use much of the
abbreviation-laden chat-speak you'll find elsewhere. We're
writers and our objective is to make certain we express
ourselves clearly.

Snippets

When someone is snippeting from their work into chat, there
are a few things to remember:

1) If you want to snippet, please ask for permission first.
You will most likely get an unequivocal yes, but it's polite
to ask nonetheless.

2) Once you've finished, indicate so with an extra line that
says "end" or something similar.

3) Please do not snippet more than a
few lines of text.

4) Please don't interrupt a snippet in progress. Wait for
the "end" sign to say something. (However, people do drop
in during a snippet and don't realize, and that's
inescapable, but please don't welcome the person until after
the snippet.)

5) Please ask the poster if comments are welcome. Some
people just want to share what they enjoyed writing and
don't want a critique and you would do more damage than good
just barging in with one.